Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a method for operating a medical imaging system, in particular a magnetic resonance tomography system, as well as an operating apparatus for such a system, and a medical imaging system, in particular a magnetic resonance tomography system designed to implement such a method.
Description of the Prior Art
Medical imaging systems or devices, in particular magnetic resonance tomography systems or devices, can be automated to a large extent today. For example, standard parameter sets can be loaded into the device and activated automatically, a patient anatomy can be detected automatically, a slice geometry for the imaging can be configured automatically, and much more. However, the pre-prepared parameter sets for one or more corresponding acquisition sequences must still or should still be adapted by an operator in most cases. This is due to different or varying requirements of the radiologist, e.g. a selection of specific examination protocols for individual patients or a specific detail of a diagnostic inquiry. For example, an examination protocol might indicate whether a hip examination, a heart examination, or an examination of the brain is required, and which sectional views are desired in each case. In addition, the parameter sets must be adapted to anatomical factors of the respective patient, e.g. weight or height.
A lack of trained operating staff and experienced radiologists is prevalent in emerging or developing countries in particular. Owing to the normally high throughput rates in such environments, it is important in these installations to shorten the scan times of the systems, i.e. the temporal duration of the acquisition sequences resulting in the images or image information. In the case of short scan times in particular, a poorly selected parameter set results in unfavorable acquisition sequences and therefore often unusable image information. It is then necessary to repeat the examination using an optimized amended parameter set at considerable expense in terms of time, particularly in the case of more complex anatomical structures.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,570,051 B2 discloses a method for improving the contrast of images from magnetic resonance tomography, wherein the results of different acquisition sequences are combined.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,064,671 B2 discloses an imaging system in which non-linear contrast filters are used. These can be used to improve a visualization of contrasts.